20 Actors Who Quit Movies For Insane Reasons

Tough though it is to picture, Mark Wahlberg very nearly played the troubled title character in Donnie Darko, as of course turned out to be a breakout role for a young Jake Gyllenhaal.

While you might assume that a 29-year-old Wahlberg simply thought himself too old to play a high-schooler, that apparently wasn't a concern. 

Rather, Wahlberg was game to play Donnie, and even made a suggestion to filmmaker Richard Kelly that he play Donnie with a lisp.

However, Kelly wasn't interested in the idea, prompting a creative clash between the two before Wahlberg decided to walk away from the role.

And so a 19-year-old Gyllenhaal ended up winning the part, and while obviously not nearly as well known as Wahlberg at the time, it was absolutely the right casting choice in the end.

Even without getting into the lisp nonsense, one's brain aches trying to imagine Wahlberg convincingly playing Donnie, like, at all.